My Experience At The Emirates Cabin Crew Assessment Day

Sometimes life doesn’t give you what you want. Not because you don’t deserve it, but because you deserve something else.”

I never wanted my life to be like:

“Go to school. Graduate. Get a job. Get married. Grow old. Wish my life had been more interesting.”

That’s why I’ve decided to become a flight attendant no matter how challenging the job may seem.

Best Answer For “Tell Me About Yourself” Question At Cabin Crew Interviews

 

You’ll only have a few minutes, use it to the fullest to sell yourself. If you’re not prepared, you won’t even know where to begin answering this open-ended question.

Summarize and highlight the experiences and achievements that  you want the interviewer to know. Show off the skills you gained that makes you a great fit for the job.

Resist the impulse to list all your hobbies and personal interests. Don’t talk about your relationship status or family history either. You aren’t creating your Profile for a social media account here.

On the other, you might end up simply reciting your full resume to the interviewer. Boring!

How To Easily Answer The “Tell Me About Yourself” Question

Kathryn Minshew from The Muse speaks of a rule called Present-Past-Future which I found to be the easiest – and most practical – way to answer this make-or-break question.

Present. First talk about what you’re doing right now.

Past. Then go a little back to talk about previous experiences and what skills you gained from them.

Future. Finish with a look into the coming days and why you’re thrilled about this job opportunity.

Something like this:

I’m currently a Guest Relations Executive at the VIP lounge of the Grand Hyatt, where I take care of high-profile guests. Before that, I also worked at a call center handling customer issues.  Though, I love what I do, I’ve always wanted the chance to be a cabin crew with ____, which is why I’m excited about this opportunity.

Or

I’m a graduate of Hotel and Tourism Management. I spent a year in Spain working as a waiter and learning Spanish. I’ve always wanted to be a flight attendant and it would be a privilege to get this job opportunity.

Short, simple, and direct to the point. Only mention experiences and key strengths that are relevant to the flight attendant position.

No doubt the interviewer will be asking more questions based on what you just said. A friendly chat between you and the interviewer should be the outcome.

“And ultimately, don’t be afraid to relax a little bit, tell stories and anecdotes—the hiring manager already has your resume, so they also want to know a little more about you.” – Kathryn Minshew

Six Ways To Better Prepare Yourself For The Cabin Crew Interview

 

A Cabin crew interview is generally conducted through an Open Day or an Assessment Day. Either one will be very competitive. You will be seated inside a hotel conference hall joined by dozens, if not hundreds – of other hopefuls.

It’s a good idea to get yourself mentally prepared.

How To Prepare For The Cabin Crew Interview

What does an airline assessment day look like?

Hopefully your application form was a success and the next step will be an invitation from the airline to an assessment day, interview day or open day. The open day is similar to a walk-in session where you will get a chance to speak with the recruiters directly, but you will still have to register and be invited, so do check the airlines website – they need to know how many people to expect. Assessment days are by invitation only, if you just turn up, unfortunately they will not be able to see you. These are normally held in a city near to you in a hotel conference centre or at the airline's training centre.

Think you’re due a cabin crew promotion? Here are 7 steps to success

So, you have been flying for a few years now and you are in need of new challenges… depending on your airline and its promotion structure, there may be a few options open to you. You may decide to be a purser/senior crew member or cabin manager on board and take responsibility for your crew and a successful flight.                  

Or maybe you are thinking about going into training new crew or even recruiting new candidates… It doesn’t have to stop at flying and you may even be able to combine some of these roles and fully get the most out of your job. How can you make a good impression and increase your chances of promotion? Here are a few ways to put yourself ahead of the game…

1. Never be complacent about safety – after you have been flying a while it is sometimes easy to forget the real reason we are onboard and get caught up in the never ending meal service, problem passengers and fatigue. With so many problems in the world post 9/11 we are more aware that negative situations can happen, so we must never forget to be aware of our safety onboard as well as the passenger’s safety. Don’t ever ‘forget’ to check your safety equipment and make sure you know your safety procedures well. Always.

2. Go the extra mile and exceed expectations – always do that little extra and make someone’s day whether it is a passenger or a fellow crew member. They will appreciate it and it will make you feel good too and a good impression is always remembered.

3. Lead by example – never ask anyone to do something that you wouldn’t do yourself. Be committed to the team as well as being able to work on your initiative. Remember that respect is earned not just given and every day onboard, if you choose, can be ‘a good day out’!

4. Look after your crew and they will look after you – be honest and open and always share the workload. If someone is struggling, go and help them. Offer support, a smile and encouragement and motivate your crew to do their very best.

5. Cultivate integrity and discretion with your passengers and crew. Know when to take control and when to back off. Be understanding – we can all get ‘tired and emotional’ sometimes… kind words and a discrete nature will be rewarded in the long run.

6. Passion for your work – after 6 months, you will know whether you want to continue flying or not. Seasoned cabin crew will tell you that flying has got into their blood, some would say it is aircraft fuel and some may call it an infection! It is a lifestyle choice, not a job and you have to love it and give it 100% or not at all. It is hard to take a leap into a ground role but usually the transition is there as many crew want to give something back to their peers.

7. Never stop learning! Always know that you can improve, you can make a difference and achieve more. You can learn something from almost everyone you meet. This will keep your job alive and fresh every day and help you to enjoy the experience – even if you are having a rough day.

I hope this inspires you to move forward in your career and consider other options when you need a new challenge. To make a good impression and get promoted it is not about being bossy or having a huge attitude. It is the softer skills that will get you noticed and people will remember you for all the right reasons and want to work with again and you have already earned their respect. When your name is mentioned, you want people to speak well of you, it is a small world and word does get around.

To succeed further you may have to move airlines or try living in a different country or you may decide to venture into corporate flying on private jets – there are always new options out there if you keep an open mind. Being cabin crew is a fantastic job that many people only ever dream of doing and if you can pay back with your experience and want the challenge of something new, you will be helping others to achieve their dreams, which is something well worth the effort.

Tackling those tricky interview questions: ‘What would you do if…’

One of our readers, Anastasiya recently asked for advice on ‘what would you do if...’ questions that are frequently asked in cabin crew interviews. 

‘How can you find out proper answers for interview questions about scenarios on flights,’ she asked.

We put this to a panel of experts including Cabin Crew Consultant Patricia Green, and other cabin crew colleagues at/or previously from British Airways, Etihad, Emirates, Viking, Sky Europe, and Thomson.

Their advice is that really you can only find out by asking an experienced crew member for advice. But they say, don’t worry too much about trying to have one correct answer – often there is no such thing. Questions like this may be asked at interview stage to get an idea of how you respond to stressful or unusual situations onboard – the airline probably does not expect the perfect answer on the spot.

Here are a few such questions to give you some ideas of what to say in cabin crew interviews:

What would you do if you saw one of your colleagues being deliberately rude to a passenger?

This would be very rare, but can happen. Personally, I would try and soften things by offering extra drinks or snacks later and apologise but without saying it was because of the crew member but something like ‘I understand you have had a bit of a problem on this flight and I am really sorry.’ If you feel it to be serious matter, I would tell the Senior Crew Member onboard, just for her reference should the situation get worse…but I would not report a crew member just for the sake of it.

What would you do if a commercially important passenger complained that another commercially important passenger is snoring too loudly behind him?

Apologise and see if you have any seats spare further away from the unfortunate sleeper! If no seats are available, you could offer earplugs…or headphones for noise cancelling (some first class) or ones used for the IFE so he can watch a film instead.

If, for example, there are 60 children on the flight, but you only have 40 toys. How would you deal with this situation?

This would be a very rare situation too, to have so many children onboard. Most airlines carry a mixture of toys/games for different ages – so it may be a case of giving the youngest the soft toy and a little bit older a colouring set – that kind of thing, so you may use all the toys by not sticking to the age brackets. You should also be very discreet in this kind of situation, so as not to cause disappointment. If there was a large shortage, I would probably walk backwards working from the back of the aircraft to the front, so I could see when the toys run out but without being seen too obviously by the passengers at the front.

What would you do if the seat belt signs were on and the aircraft is about to take off, but a passenger insists that he has to kneel down to conduct his prayer due to religious reasons?

Firstly, it would be sensible to make an announcement (or ask a colleague to) asking for passengers to remain in their seats while the seatbelt signs are on. You could then approach the passenger ( if safe to leave your seat…) and ask them to take their seat as it is a safety issue and if they do not the captain will make the decision to return to stand and the flight will be delayed. Obviously, it is a huge safety issue to have a passenger unsecured for take off therefore if the passenger refuses, you would have to inform a senior who will contact the captain and it's likely the plane will have to return to stand, and crew will then have to deal with the delay.

For safety purposes during a flight, it would make sense to ask a senior crew member for their advice on what they would do and why? But for interview purposes, this is more about how you as a person deal with stress and organisation, so don’t over think it and just treat it as an ordinary scenario. There is no wrong or right answer, only if it's a safety related question during training or work – you would never be expected to know this at an assessment day.

Ask the Experts: Your cabin crew questions answered!

We hope the article sheds some light on key issues, and will help you as you progress your cabin crew career.

Elaine: How many cabin crew are currently employed in the UK?

It’s hard to say… British Airways employs in the region of 15,000 cabin crew and Virgin Atlantic has over 4,000 so with all the charter companies and low cost carriers and regional airlines, I would suggest somewhere around the 25,000 mark.

Nada: Is wearing dental braces allowed?

No, it is preferable not to wear braces even if they are invisible as image is very important to the airline. The best option would be to have removable ones that you wear only at night and then take them out for assessment day/work.

Jenny: Do you have to have a training course on your CV to apply for roles?

Absolutely not! I would discourage anyone from spending a lot of money for a cabin crew course when it is not necessary and most of the information can be found online, for example on this site… Airlines will offer their own training courses and like their crew to be taught their own way and having a cabin crew course on your CV will not change anything about your application. I would only recommend a cabin crew course if it is the standard NCFE further education course. You may wish to attend a 1-2 day course if you really need to boost your confidence or interview technique, but most of it can be learnt through research.

Tasos: Do you know the height to weight proportion for a male 183 cm, for EK and EY?

Height and weight proportion for all the airlines in the Middle East are based on bmi scale therefore for a male it should be between 22-25 and you can find body mass index calculators online if you want to check the actual weight range. However, I would not get hung up on these figures, as long as you are physically fit and look in proportion weight and height wise, there is nothing to worry about!

Anastasiya: Why do you think some passengers take their frustrations out on cabin crew, even though the cabin crew are trying to help them?

We think this is largely because most people are walking into an unpredictable environment that they may not have experienced before, or have little experience of. For many business men/women for example, they are used to being in control at work but then put them in a metal tube in the sky, they have total lack of control and this can make for very difficult passengers. There is also a total lack of understanding of the role of cabin crew which is ill perceived and unfortunately will probably never change.

Keiron: How long do airlines take to consider an application? I have applied for roles at both EXS and EZY. EXS got my application and an hour later asked for extra references and another hour later asked me to complete a maths and English online exam which I completed. I have yet to receive any feedback though.

How long is a piece of string? It really does vary airline to airline and can take anything from a few days to a few months. You might hear from the smaller airlines (regional or charter) a little quicker than for example Emirates or Etihad as the recruitment catchment area is so huge and the number of applications extremely high (hundreds of thousands…). You will not normally get feedback – this is just due to sheer numbers, there is not time to respond individually about the application.

Anisa: I am currently 17 years old and I'm studying a Cabin Crew course in which I will receive a certificate. I have previously worked for 6 months (Customer Service). I was just wondering with just 6 months experience along with the certificate, would it be of any use to apply as soon as I turn 18 next year? I'm very determined to gain this dream job and I really do not want to waste my time by not applying.

Some airlines do accept applications from 18 years old and some are from 21 so it will be worth you researching to find out who you can apply for. You can apply just before you are 18 as it usually takes a while to get as far as assessment days etc. During the waiting time between assessment days you can always gain more customer service experience. Be prepared to attend quite a few and apply for many as it usually is quite a long journey…

Graham: Do all airlines do background checks? Will we have to provide references and how far do they go back?

Yes, airlines do background checks as they need to know that you have never committed a criminal offence and you need this in order for them to apply for your airside pass. Especially with security being so important these days, it is a must! References may be asked for, about individual jobs but mostly it is just a service letter or phone call to prove that you were in a certain place at a certain time, a kind of security check. Some airlines also do a police check, especially if you have lived in other countries. These checks are usually for between 5 and 10 years depending on the airline and the country they are based.

Liz: How do you avoid colds and flu from passengers and stay healthy to fly?

The first 6 months you will probably get every bug going, but after that you do build up a good natural immunity. Vitamins are a bonus and trying to eat well and not eating too much airline food will really help – take healthier options with you. Sleep whenever you can too on your off time, as the body needs to repair itself. Onboard, using a antibacterial hand gel and hand cream will really help ward off bugs too.

Byna: Why are passengers not allowed to sit with a bag on their seats? (reader Jezleen has posted: ‘so whenever there would be an emergency evacuation your bag would not be an obstruction or hindrance to you and people around you.)

Exactly so! Also, a bag can become a lethal missile in an emergency landing or aborted take off, so every bag has to be secure and stowed safely away. In a decompression or even severe turbulence a bag can do a lot of damage to a person!

Madeira: Why do so many cabin crew moan about passengers and their jobs (when they could give someone else a chance to do the job!)

Sometimes, I guess it’s just having a bad day and sometimes after a long flight and difficult situations, some crew members may want to let off steam. Often with airlines there is a lot of ‘politics’ and it is difficult to not get involved in that. Tiredness is often a big factor too – we call it the ‘tired and emotional’ stage and it gets to everyone once in a while. If it is all the time though, they are definitely in the wrong job!

Cabin crew expectations: What happens in the lead-up to landing your dream job?

So you are looking for your first cabin crew job, applied for a few airlines and waiting to hear about your next or last assessment day. Or you may already have received the call and are waiting to start your training course. Do you know what to expect? Probably not! There are so many misconceptions about the job itself and the process leading up to it, I thought we’d explore those a little here!

But it’s just like applying for a normal job right?

What should I wear for my airline assessment day? (male and Female )

 

This is a frequently asked question on the forums, especially for those new candidates who have never attended an assessment day before. Be one step ahead of the crowd and know what to wear! As you will be a representative of and the ‘face’ of the airline, your personal presentation must be immaculate at all times. This starts right at the assessment day, where you have to create a good impression and continue to do so right through your airline career.

When you join an airline, you have to commit to ‘uniform standards’ as outlined by the company and if you don’t, you will be reprimanded. This can be something like forgetting your tie or wearing the wrong colour lipstick – it may sound trivial, but airlines are brands and they need everybody to meet the same standards and be instantly recognisable in uniform. A good place to start is at your interview/assessment day.

Here are some useful tips:

Psychometric testing: Everything you need to know

Relax. Whether you are told you will be required to sit psychometric tests or attend an assessment centre (the non-“psy” way of saying the same thing) there is really nothing to worry about. It is highly unlikely you will lose a job opportunity on the basis of psychometric tests alone, and it may be that when you do get your next job, if psychometric tests were used during the selection process, your transition into and development in cabin crew job will be smoother.

What are psychometric tests?

Psychometric tests fall into two main categories:
• Aptitude tests: which assess cognitive capacity such as numerical and verbal reasoning ability.
• Personality tests: which assess behavioural and motivational characteristics.

So, how do you look good in these tests?
In short, prepare. It is not true that there is nothing you can do to improve your performance. Simply knowing what to expect can help you to perform better, whether in aptitude tests or in personality tests.

Aptitude Tests

Aptitude tests are relatively straightforward to prepare for. They comprise a series of multiple choice questions, each question having a correct answer. They are designed to measure an individual’s capacity to think logically and solve problems independent of prior knowledge (such as abstract reasoning tests) and the capacity to learn from past situations and apply this to new situations (such as numerical reasoning and verbal reasoning tests).

When assessments are conducted scores are derived from actual ability (as opposed to ability relative to other candidates) and are established by comparing scores to a norm group. A norm group consists of scores collected from a comparison group of individuals of a similar level of attainment.

If you have time you can take a wide ranging approach to your preparation. Ditch your calculator and brush up on your mental arithmetic. Or to improve your critical reasoning skills you could take up Sudoku or crosswords.

However, if time is short, the best way of getting up to scratch will be to practice under test conditions. This will also help to build your confidence by increasing your familiarity with the tests. Reducing test anxiety through practice and feedback has been shown to reduce errors when completing subsequent tests.

Personality Tests

But what of personality testing? The best advice we can offer is “be yourself”. However, gaining confidence through familiarising yourself ahead of the tests can be beneficial to your overall performance – not lease because it will reduce your anxiety about what is to come.

Personality questionnaires help to establish a profile of individual behavioural preferences, needs and talents. These can include motivation and perceived effectiveness. Since these are self-report questionnaires it is important that the data gathered is validated through discussion with a psychologist or someone else who is trained to accurately interpret the profile. Personality questionnaires are considered to be fair and objective tools with an established reputation for predicting performance.

Perhaps this is why they worry candidates so much: the anxiety to appear as the “perfect candidate” leads them to assume the tests are there simply to trip them up. This is how many people make the worst mistake they possibly could: they try to answer the questionnaire as they imagine the prospective employer would like to see it answered.

Don’t – really, don’t try to second guess what you say: much research has been carried out into response styles. The more robust and reputable tests incorporate multiple checks to measure response styles throughout the questionnaire. As a result, you will also be scored on how consistent you have been in your answers and to what extent you have tried to create a favourable impression.

Needless to say, trying to present a certain image which simply isn’t “you” can result in a confused or distorted profile which will ring alarm bells with the trained assessor or psychologist. In brief – be yourself, there is a lot less to remember!

What are Employers looking for?

The devil is in the detail but airline and airport employers are looking for people who are a good fit for their team and who demonstrate the right aptitudes to do the job well. What is important for the employer is how your different needs, behaviours, preferences and motives might interact with aspects of an organisation’s culture, the job and the work environment.

In other words, if you want to be happy and successful in your new role, answer truthfully. You are unlikely to have a thorough enough understanding of the organisation you’re hoping to work for to really change your answers simply for that job. Furthermore, when asked about your revealed shortcomings, by explaining what strategies you have developed to deal with them, you will demonstrate two qualities much prized by employers: strength of character and self-awareness.

Psychometric testing may sound mysterious to many cabin crew jobseekers. What could be scarier than someone looking deep into your thoughts, as part of your application process for a flight attendant role? Well in fact there is little to worry about, and it is becoming increasingly common for employers to include some form of psychometric testing during the employment selection processes. HR professionals say that by combining interviewing with psychometric testing, it is far easier to judge candidates accurately.